‘Baahubali’ has increased my market value: Rana Daggubati

Actor Rana Daggubati said Baahubali was a career-defining film for him as people from the industry now had more trust in his vision and calibre as an artiste.

The 32-year-old actor essays the role of Bhallaladeva in S.S. Rajamouli’s war epic, which released on Friday to a record-breaking opening.

Rana said the success of the film has made it easier for him to green-light a project.

“My approach to cinema is very different. I am sure the film has increased my market value. If not [for] Baahubali first part, it would have been tough for me to bring something like a submarine war film (The Ghazi Attack) alive in India. Now, I can do a lot of alternative things and tell different stories in different languages as that’s what interests me.

“I can now get a lot of films green-lit. It was hard to do that earlier. People now have confidence in me. There will be more and more studios and makers interested in doing the work I believe in,” Rana told PTI.

The actor, who along with the rest of the cast invested five years to bring Rajamouli’s dream alive, said working with the team had left a huge impact on him and that his future endeavours would have a clear impression of what he learnt on the sets of the film.

“By working with such an amazing team you learn a lot. From Rajamouli to Prabhas, everyone is a veteran in their space. It has been five years with them. I have learnt a lot from them. The experience of working on the movie will have a reflection in whatever I will do in the future,” he says.

“We went over—budget in the first part but that never stopped us. The producers, the actors and the filmmaker, everyone just stayed in… It took us five years and finally it is out. It is overwhelming.

“To see what we made is even bigger than what we imagined is surreal. It is beyond being a regional film; it is a national film. I believe it is truly the first franchise film India has ever had,” Rana says.

“My next film is a political thriller in Telegu. I will start the shooting soon and it will be out somewhere in August. Post that, I have another film which is set in 1945.